ancient cities

dimensions of human geography. Time geography
remains influential in urban geography as a means
of mapping and measuring location-accessibility
problems, but it has lost favor among urban anthropologists
who criticize the use of space and time as
empty abstractions of distance and duration.
In much the same way that Georg Simmel
viewed the spontaneous movements of urban
dwellers as webs of social interaction, Hägerstrand
sought to capture the “choreography of existence.”
He viewed the most mundane projects of daily life,
such as chaperoning a young child to school on the
way to work, as a function of multiple “pockets of
local order,” the path or trajectory of which is
governed by three simple but fundamental contextual
limitations. The first of these, the capability
constraint, concerns physical limits to movement
including the inability to be in two places at once.
Second, a coupling constraint describes situations
that compel people to come together at certain
times and locations such as for face-to-face service
delivery, family celebrations, medical appointments,
and the like. Third, authority constraints
exist in the form of legal sanctions and regulations
such as those restricting entry to places selling
alcohol. The most arresting image associated with
this choreography is a three-dimensional prism,
mapping an individual’s path in space (annotated
movements across the x–y axes of a morphological
map) and relating this to a time budget (the
24-hour day) recorded on the z-axis.
The prism renders complex situated behavior
with a simplicity that is appealing but heavily
criticized for the tendency to reduce webs of interaction
to quantified nodes or intersections.
Sweeping structures appear to displace individual
agency and erase the significance of cultural practices
and local knowledge. Feminist scholars point
out that time is not a gender-neutral, quantitybased
resource, which is equally available to everyone
as a measure of the calendar or clock. The
passage of time and pace of life will vary, just as
people’s experience of space and place is shaped by
subjectivity: power, fear, and physical capability.
Despite this criticism, there are ample examples
in contemporary research of the constructive
application of time geography to questions of
work–life balance. Moreover, it is now possible
to redeploy Hägerstrand’s principles to combined
GIS-ethnography initiatives, with the aid of
Toilets
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sophisticated satellite tracking devices. For example,
researchers have exploited advanced tracking
technologies to study pedestrian spatial
behavior in which it is possible to incorporate a
log of perceptual experience (fear, discomfort,
intimidation, landscape aesthetic, and the like).
Future time-geography research calls for a more
integrated, materially embedded theory of everyday
coordination.
Helen Jarvis
See also Journey to Work; Urban Geography; Urban
Theory; Women and the City
Further Readings
Ellegård, K. 1999. “A Time Geographical Approach to
the Study of Everyday Life of Individuals—A
Challenge of Complexity.” GeoJournal 48:167–75.
Hägerstrand, T. 1982. “Diorama, Path, and Project.”
Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie
7:329–34.
Jarvis, H. 2005. “Moving to London Time: Household
Co-ordination and the Infrastructure of Everyday
Life.” Time and Society 14(1):133–54.
Lenntorp, Bo. 2004. “Path, Prism, Project, Pocket, and
Population: An Introduction.” Geografiska Annaler
86B:223–26.
Pred, A. 1977. “The Choreography of Existence: Some
Comments on Hägerstrand’s Time-Geography and Its
Effectiveness.” Economic Geography 53:207–21.
To i l e T s
This entry is concerned with “away from home”
toilets, also known as restrooms, bathrooms,
lavatories, and public conveniences. Away-fromhome
toilets may be divided into two categories:
those provided off the street to serve the occupants
of offices, stores, factories, sports stadia,
entertainment venues, and so forth and “on
street” municipal public toilets for the needs of
pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, shoppers,
workers, tourists, and commuters. Public
toilets are essential to creating efficient, accessible,
sustainable, healthy, and equitable modern cities
because everyone needs to use the bathroom several
times a day.